More than 400 students visited with nearly 60 companies at the College of Engineering & Engineering Technology’s spring job fair on Feb. 23.
The fair is traditionally held in the spring and fall at the Engineering Building, but the large number of companies clamoring to participate led the college to relocate the spring fair to the Duke Ellington Ballroom. Fifty-eight companies set up booths in the ballroom, hoping to recruit NIU engineering and technology students.
“We get very qualified candidates here,” said Miki Leombruni, director of human resources at Ingersoll Machine Tools. “NIU has very impressive candidates. We do a lot of these [job fairs] and this one is definitely a step above. Every year we come here and every year we hire someone.”
Emily Hamilton, an engineer with Ipsen USA and 2011 graduate of the NIU mechanical engineering program, said “probably 75 percent” of the company’s staff is made up of NIU alumni.
“We’ve found real people come from NIU,” said Hamilton, who was recruiting at the fair with fellow NIU mechanical engineering alumnus Kevin Woerner, ’07. “You don’t get candidates who are detached and bookish; you get common-sense, hands-on people.”
A total of 402 students turned in resumes at check-in at the fair, representing all four College of Engineering & Engineering Technology departments.
